Many problems of enormous practical importance can be modeled as
combinatorial optimization problems; examples are vehicle routing in
distribution management, scheduling of jobs in a production line,
generating timetables for scheduling meetings, and many more. Among
the most effective methods to solve combinatorial optimization
problems are metaheuristics, that is, sets of concepts that can be
used to define approximate algorithms applicable to wide sets of
different problems.

The Metaheuristics Network, a Research Network funded by the European
Commission within the Improving Human Potential Programme, is
concerned with the study of a wide variety of metaheuristics and
NP-hard problems. The main scientific goal is to deepen our
understanding of the working principles of metaheuristics through
theoretical and experimental research so that they can be applied more
effectively to the solution of important practical combinatorial
optimization problems. The young researchers involved in the network
will be exposed to a variety of techniques, as well as to the
challenge of applying these techniques to many different situations
and problems, both in academic and industrial settings. The research
subject is very well suited for training purposes because there are
many different techniques involved which require evaluation and
experimentation by teams of people with different background and
experience and working co-operatively to the solution of a common
problem.

The Intellectics Group, the Metaheuristics Network node at the
computer science department of TU Darmstadt, has very active research
lines on local search algorithms and metaheuristics as well as on more
traditional Artificial Intelligence techniques. We offer two doctoral
and one PostDoc research positions over a three years period starting
September 1st 2000.

The people we are looking for should possess a PhD or a degree that
allows them to embark in a doctoral program. Their area of competence
and/or interest should be in at least one of the following
disciplines: Computer Science, Operations Research, or Computational
Intelligence. They should be experienced programmers in procedural or
object oriented programming languages and should have knowledge of
modern operating systems. The working language will be English. The
applicants will have a commitment to research and publication, and
possess good communication and presentation skills (in English). They
will be available for traveling between European labs participating in
the research project, located in Belgium, France, Germany, The
Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

Application deadline
----------------------

There is no strict submission deadline; positions will be filled as
adequate candidates become available. We suggest you contact the local
network co-ordinator as soon as possible.

The amount of the fellowship for PhD students is DM 2690.- net and for
PostDocs approx. DM 2900.- net.

Conditions for EU grants
-------------------------

The most important conditions for EU grants are that (i) the
researcher must be 35 years old or less at the time of his appointment
(allowances are possible), (ii) the applicant must be a national of an
EU member state or of an Associated State or have resided in the EU
for at least five years prior to his appointment, and (iii) fulfill
certain mobility requirements.